MP3: Kathryn Williams presents… The Pond — ‘Bebop’ (Wears The Trousers premiere)

Kathryn Williams’ third album to be released through One Little Indian is as different from 2010′s children’s album (recorded with Anna Spencer as The Crayonettes) as that album was from the same year’s The Quickening. Teaming up with married duo Simon Edwards (already a long-time collaborator of Kathryn’s) and Ginny Clee (formerly of The Dear Janes; she proposed to Simon in the sleevenotes of their 1996 album No Skin), The Pond was formed over a two-year period – as long as it took for them to realise that their idle home studio experiments were gelling into something deserving of a proper release.

Described by Kathryn as a “democratic mud pit” and by the label as “more Gorillaz than Guthrie”, this brand new trio are set to turn expectations upside down with their self-titled debut, out May 28, and Wears The Trousers is pleased as punch to be able to bring you an exclusive first listen to a track from the album, ‘Bebop’.

Borrowing briefly and cheekily from Gene Vincent’s 1956 hit ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’, it’s a lightly grooving piece that coasts on airy, looped guitars and drums, and Williams and Clee’s sweet, repetitive insistence that they ”Ain’t gonna rock it all night”. What makes the song snap the head around, though, is the featured appearance of rapper Kirsch, who deals out several verses of nostalgic recollections of gentle breezes and a long-ago lady love in a conflictingly modern fashion. It’s less overtly sexual than Vincent’s censor-dodging original (essentially a code phrase for fucking), but there’s still the suggestion of a many-mornings-after spring in its step.

Download it for free below, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to stream a clip of another new song, the curious, Far Eastern-influenced ‘The River’. It’s a stretch to believe that both songs belong to the same album, but trust us when we say that it works. Prepare to be very pleasantly surprised.

FREE MP3: The Pond, ‘Bebop’

Catch The Pond on tour at the following venues in May/June:

28.05.12 Komedia, Brighton
29.05.12 Union Chapel, London
30.05.12 Ruby Lounge, Manchester
01.06.12 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
02.06.12 King Tut’s, Glasgow
03.06.12 Sage 2, Gateshead

They’ll also be playing an invite-only press showcase at The Social in London on April 18, and we’ve got FOUR PAIRS of tickets to give away for free. All you have to do is tell us the name of Kathryn Williams’s 2000 Mercury Prize-nominated album:

(a) Little Black Buttons
(b) Little Black Dress
(c) Little Black Numbers
(d) Little Black Pudding

Email your answer with subject line ‘The Pond comp’ to editor@wearsthetrousers.com by 5pm (GMT) on Friday, March 16, and good luck! We will need your full name, so don’t forget to include it.

Tracklist:
01 Carved
02 Circle Round A Tree
03 The River
04 Pass Us By
05 The Art Of Doing Nothing
06 Memory Let Down
07 Bebop
08 Hard Shoulder
09 End Of The Pier
10 Evening Star
11 Aim

The Pond official website

Tagged anna spencer, be-bop-a-lula, bebop, ginny clee, kathryn williams, kathryn williams presents the pond, no skin, the crayonettes, the dear janes, the pond, the quickening